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All-State Girls Basketball: Ursuline's Lewis is in complete control

Ursuline's Alisha Lewis (1) celebrates following the Raiders' 47-40 win over Roland Park Country School of Baltimore in the Diamond State Classic championship game on Dec. 30.(Photo: KYLE GRANTHAM/THE NEWS JOURNAL)Buy Photo

How could someone who averaged 10.7 points per game be considered the best girls basketball player in Delaware?

Watch Ursuline’s Alisha Lewis for a couple of minutes, and you’ll see why the state’s coaches and the Delaware Sportswriters and Broadcasters Association chose the 5-foot-7 sophomore as the Player of the Year.

She has total command of the game, fully able to do whatever needs to be done for her team at any given moment.

If the Raiders need a turnover, Lewis forces it. If one of her teammates gets open, Lewis finds her. If Ursuline needs a critical rebound, Lewis gets it. And if the Raiders are struggling for a bucket, Lewis hits one.

“Alisha’s composure, her ability to see her teammates and distribute the basketball, and her ability to just kind of sense what her team needs is like nothing I’ve seen,” Ursuline coach John Noonan said. “That’s clearly what makes her special.”

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Lewis was the nerve center of a team that finished 23-1, ranked 16th nationally by USA Today and 15th by maxpreps.com. The Raiders took on all comers, defeating opponents from New York, California, New Jersey, Maryland and Pennsylvania.

And when the DIAA Girls Basketball Tournament rolled around, it was no contest. Ursuline won its four postseason games by a combined 220-98, dispatching Caravel 54-32 for its third consecutive state title.

“It’s crazy to think that we’ve won three times while I was here,” Lewis said. “It’s just gone by so fast. Each year, it’s really different.”

That’s right, Lewis has started for the Raiders since she was an eighth-grader. They were led by Adrianna Hahn – who just made the All-Big East second team as a guard at Villanova – back then.

Lewis became the team’s primary ballhandler last year, a role that intensified this season. She didn’t shoot a lot, but when she did, they often went in.

Game-winning shot

The best example of that came Jan. 28, when a 3-pointer from the corner gave Philadelphia Catholic League power Cardinal O’Hara a one-point lead with five seconds left in double overtime. Lewis took the inbounds pass, screamed up the right side of the court and fired a 35-footer that sailed through the net to give Ursuline a 52-50 victory.

“That was a crazy shot,” Lewis said. “I didn’t think it was going to go in at first. … Then it went in.”

The Raiders were struggling early in the state championship game, until Lewis scored two quick buckets to tie it at 5. It turned out to be the start of a 15-0 run.

“She comes down and hits a 3, then she hits a floater,” Noonan said. “She knew we needed baskets then, and she chose to do that.”

But most of the time, Lewis chose not to shoot. Junior guard Maggie Connolly, her fellow first team All-State teammate, led the Raiders in scoring at 11.9 points per game. Yanni Hendley-McCalla, Olivia Mason and Kryshell Gordy were reliable offensive options, too.

“I’m pass first,” Lewis said. “I just like to feed my teammates, and scoring always is just a second option for me.”

Lewis took only 22 shots in the final three rounds of the state tournament. She made 13 of those (59.1 percent), and added 13 steals, 13 rebounds and 13 assists while committing just six turnovers.

“It’s all aspects of the game, the steals, the assists, the rebounds,” she said. “They matter, too.”

Bright future

College coaches have noticed Lewis’ all-around skills. The Wallingford, Pa., resident will spend her second summer with the prestigious Philadelphia Belles travel team, which has had 19 McDonald’s All-American high school players over the last 15 years.

“She’s got all the tools,” Noonan said. “She’s got a chance to be one of the top three to five basketball players ever to come through this state.”

That’s high praise from Noonan, who has trained 2015 WNBA MVP Elena Delle Donne throughout her career at Ursuline, Delaware, the Chicago Sky and now the Washington Mystics. That was one of the things that drew Lewis to Ursuline.

“He’s made me better in so many ways, in being a leader and being a better person,” she said of Noonan. “He’s tough on me a lot, expects me to play a certain way.”

She also liked the basketball tradition at Ursuline, which has now won 17 DIAA hoops titles.

“There are expectations when you wear Ursuline on your jersey,” Lewis said. “When teams play us, it’s the biggest game of their season.”

Noonan is excited about the future for Lewis, who aspires to play in the WNBA. The Raiders return almost all of this year’s team next season, so her scoring may not pick up dramatically. But her coach would like to see her shoot more, after the point guard hit 52.5 percent from the field (including 37.9 percent from 3-point range) this season.

“If she can get them to honor her jump shot and extend a little bit, it makes everything else a little bit easier,” Noonan said. “It’s just the right thing to do basketball-wise.

“And she’s capable. If she wasn’t capable of doing it, then we would just say, ‘Well, she can’t shoot.’ But she can. So we’re trying to get her to turn that switch on.”